This invention relates generally to carts and more specifically to a motorized cart for use by a mail carrier in delivering mail.
In the past, the United States Postal Service has employed jeeps, manual push carts, and shoulder pouches to aid a mail carrier in the delivery of mail. Mail routes that originate at the Post Office, often referred to as walking routes, normally do not employ jeeps. Typically, a mail carrier on a walking route will set out directly from the Post Office using either a manual push cart or a shoulder pouch to hold the mail which is to be delivered. Because routes are sized such that neither manual push carts nor shoulder pouches have the capacity to carry the mail for an entire route (a manual push cart is designed to carry two bags of mail totalling about 70 lbs. while a shoulder pouch is designed to carry about 35 lbs. of mail) and because it would be time consuming and cumbersome for a mail carrier to make frequent returns to the Post Office for the purpose of re-stocking the pouches or bags, most mail carriers arrange for installments of mail to be dropped off in sacks at predetermined relay points spaced along their routes. However, while this arrangement of relay points is preferable to multiple returns to the Post Office, an appreciable amount of time is expended at each relay point as the mail carrier transfers the mail from the mail sack left at the relay point to either the mail bag or the shoulder pouch, depending on which is being used.
Because a manual push cart can hold twice as much mail as a shoulder pouch, the employment of manual push carts significantly reduces the number of relay points that are needed. Unfortunately, manual push carts cannot be effectively or easily operated over snow covered terrain and consequently are not usually used in such situations. As a result, where shoulder pouches are the only viable means for transporting mail, either the number of relay points needed along the route must be increased or the route shortened. Another disadvantage to the use of shoulder pouches is the great deal of stress placed on the neck, back, and shoulder of the user, leading frequently to injury and occasionally to disability.
It is therefore abundantly clear that a great need exists for a mail cart which is easily maneuverable on all types of terrain, including snow covered terrain, and which is capable of transporting more mail that the presently employed manual push cart.